Saturday, June 25, 2011

sheep dogs, kilts and bagpipes

I was on my "edit posts" page and found a blog I had written earlier this month and accidentally didn't post! Ooops! Better late than never, eh?

   
Blake and I are not new to the Scottish Highland Games... We have, however, never been to the Costa Mesa games. It was a lovely afternoon. We got to watch men in kilts try to toss and flip gigantic and/or heavy items, many pipe bands perform, scottish dancing, and even sheep dog demonstrations. There is always wonderful Scottish music to enjoy on many stages. In the past, our favorite band to catch has been The Wicked Tinkers. They are very entertaining on stage and fun to watch. I was trying to find a good video to share and came across an appearance they made on Craig Ferguson's show.
They didn't perform this time around, but there were plenty of other acts to enjoy.
The best part of these days seems to always come down to the food. Surprise, surprise. Blake selected fish and chips and I had a scottish meat pie... there was, of course, sharing involved.




A darling calf.
Over all, the day was splendid but we both felt that we enjoy the games in San Diego (Vista, CA) a bit more. Nothing against the Orange County Fair Grounds, but the park in Vista is so nice and allows for not just sheep dog demonstrations but actual sheep herding competition. So much fun to watch. The OC fair grounds did have a fun barn area with lots of cute baby animals and a great garden area which reminded me just how much I want a back yard! One exciting souvenir that I took home from the day was my very own Clan Donnachaidh t-shirt. I married a Robertson and am officially in! (3 years and counting!) 


Friday, June 24, 2011

animal families and a lovely tune

When I was still teaching preschool we had a set of animal flashcards that I think probably came from the dollar spot at target. On the back were a bunch of facts. These bits of information included what their diets consisted of, where they are usually found, what their young are called and other factoids. My absolute favorite line to read was what a group of that animal would be called. We all know some of these. For example, a group of lions is a pride and a group of birds is a flock and a group of cows is a herd, I wrote down a bunch of the more unique and fun names and have decided that this is a better place to save this little list/collection I've accumulated.

A bloat of hippos
A streak or ambush of tigers
A leash or skulk of foxes
A mob or clan of meerkats
A rookery of penguins
A tribe or community of chimps
A band or family of gorillas
A sloth of polar bears
A mob of kangaroos
A leap of leopards
A quiver of cobras
A tower of giraffes
A troop of lemurs
A bask or float of crocodiles
A crash of rhinos
A battery of barracudas
A murder of crows
A congregation of eagles
A seething of eels
A shiver of sharks
A PARLIAMENT OF OWLS












Aren't those fantastic?




I love learning new things. Some of these I had heard before but many were brand new to me. I really did learn an awful lot in preschool!



In other news... I am mildly obsessed with this song currently. I had to get an oil change today and instead of sitting in the stuffy waiting room I decided to go for a walk. I wandered the nearby neighborhood for about 45 minutes and listened to this song several times on my ipod while enjoying the trees, the breeze and a lovely Friday morning. And now, you can enjoy it as well!

Thursday, June 9, 2011

3

My husband and I recently celebrated three years of marriage. Our anniversary was May 31st, to be exact. One thing that I love about us is that we are not big on gifts. Instead of buying things for each other on occasions like this we prefer to have adventures. We'd rather spend our money on little trips or outings that can give us wonderful memories for years to come. This time around, we spent three nights in Idyllwild, Ca. We stayed in a lovely, rustic cabin at Silver Pines Lodge. We loved everything about our stay.  The nights got cold enough for us to take advantage of our fun fireplace. We even made s'mores one night! It was midweek so we got an excellent deal and pretty much had the whole place to ourselves. We stayed in the Owl's Nest. When they pick a theme, they stick to it! There were owls everywhere in the room and guess whoo whoo loved it?  We did! The owner, Chris, was very helpful and very clearly loves running the place.
Delicious breakfast on our porch.

We had our own little porch with a great view of Strawberry Creek right down the hill. There was a koi pond right down our steps and food left out so that we could feed them... which we did... several times. One afternoon we even ate our lunch beside the koi as we played a game of scrabble. We had our own little kitchen and brought most of our food with us. We brought much more food than we could possibly eat (a Robertson family tradition, I am beginning to believe). We still have a bit of the food we purchased for that trip in our fridge right now. We ate VERY well.





This just kinda cracked me up... and made me REALLY want to climb those steps.
It was SOOO quiet up there. Several times we sat in our cabin just listening. You could hear birds and the creek but that was about it. I was so glad that our cabin was so far from the main road of the town. Far enough that you couldn't hear the cars but close enough to walk to. Perfect.

The one night that we did go out was on the evening of our actual anniversary. We ate at Cafe Aroma. It was spectacular. The place was pretty full on a random Tuesday night. There was live music inside but we sat outside so we could enjoy the music and each other at the same time. The owner was very friendly and very French... I don't mean that in any sort of negative way, he just had a very strong accent. He made his way around chatting with all of the different groups. Many he knew well and were clearly locals or fairly regular visitors to the small mountain town. It was a very relaxed atmosphere. The kind of place that makes you want to stay... or at least go back over and over again so that you can become a regular, too. And that feeling hits you before you even begin to enjoy your meal... the food was some of the best I've had... SO TASTY! Blake and I are already really wanting to go back even if only to have another of the night's salad special that we enjoyed. Yum.


Since we were in such a nice, beautiful mountain town we did make it out to do some exploring. We followed directions that we found in an informational binder in our cabin to find a spot where Native Americans had drawn on some gigantic rocks. That was fun to discover. We also used our wonderful, hand held GPS to go geocaching. It was wonderful to tromp around outside but never have to get in a car to reach "nature".





Right down the hill from our cabin was Strawberry Creek and this darling deck and table. We only climbed down there once but it was lovely and I am sure we'd spend more time there the next time we visit.


Blake with Idy, the Idyllwild monster.






During the very last moments on our anniversay Blake turned on his phone to set an alarm for the next morning (otherwise we'd probably sleep through check out). He had gotten a couple text messages about a design contest he had entered with some classmates several weeks before. He had forgotten that the results had been posted. Of course, he became very curious and had to get dressed so he could run over to the lodge steps so he could have a strong enough internet connection to check the results. As if our day couldn't get any better, he found out that his group WON first place! It was an international competition and (besides the fact that the cash prize is pretty great) he has a new line on his resume! I am so proud of him! 

The next day, on our way home, we stopped at the March Field Air Museum. It was nearly empty and it was fun to hear Blake rattle off information about planes without reading the information provided. Boys sure do like planes. Blake especially likes B-17s and the one that they have at March Field was being worked on and behind a bunch of caution tape and a sign telling visitors to stay put. We were standing right at the tape, trying to take a picture, when one of the guys working on the plane invited us over.


So we got our up close and personal look at it and even got some fun pictures of it being worked on. Blake was very happy and when he's happy I am, too. After that we took another step towards perfecting the day with an In-N-Out stop and then made the remaining journey back to Long Beach.


It was an amazing "weeklet" (we kept on calling it a weekend even though it wasn't so we had to come up with another word for it). I can't believe that another year has already gone by. Marrying Blake was the best thing that I have ever done and I am so happy that he chose me. I am nothing but excited when I think about our future and all of the possibilities stretching out in front of us. I am the luckiest girl in the world.

Saturday, June 4, 2011

jennasaurus spotting...

Okay... So it was just me... but it was at DISNEYLAND! So that's fun. I like taking my creations busy places like this and watch as people I pass stare and smile at my little friend. 


Also, coming soon, I will be posting a new coffee sleeve inspired by my most favoritest coffee shop ever: Viento y Agua! A cutesy skull with a darling little rosette. So cute and so good for the environment! Forget those disposable coffee sleeves that you pick up everyday! Bring this little guy with you instead and make a tiny difference. <3


In other news... A blog I came across is having an AMAZING giveaway! Oh Happy Day is giving out a trip for 2 to Paris! Holy smokes! Am I the only one that thinks this is the most incredible giveaway ever? You can check out the details and fight me for a chance to win here:  http://ohhappyday.com/2011/06/goes-to-paris
But please don't... I'd like my odds to be as good as they can be :)

Friday, June 3, 2011

when the world was supposed to end... a trip to stone



Funny.
Our first beverages of the evening. So tasty.

Remember when the world was supposed to end? May 21st I believe it was. My husband and I were invited to a double “beerthday” gathering that evening. Stone Brewery in Escondido, CA was the location of this wonderful event and that seemed like a pretty good place to be on the last day of the world.
I was reaching for an avocado but decided against stealing.




 Of course, Blake and I both did not even think for a second that the world was actually going to end that day but either way we love an excuse to head to this favorite place. We got there SUPER early... around 4 or 4:30 for dinner reservations at 8. Like I said, SUPER early. It pays to get there early, however. Stone has a free tour of the brewery that you have to be there early to get a spot on. We had hoped to go on the 6 o’clock tour but it was already full so we got in line to get a pass for the 7 o’clock instead. After we got our passes we had so much time to wait that we figured it would be a good idea to get an appetizer to spilt and a beverage.
I had the Stone Smoked Porter. Yum. Extremely yum. It turned out to be a lovely idea and we were able to enjoy the outside garden area while there was still plenty of light and warmth.  



The tours were probably packed due to the fact that samples are given at the end. But either way, the tour was wonderful, entertaining, informative and (best of all) ended with samples of four of Stone’s amazing beers.

End of tour samples!

Group cheers!
 After the tour it was about time for dinner. The menu is so full of delicious items that it is extremely difficult to make a choice.

 Blake and I went halvsies on the Mac and Beer Cheese and also a spicy broccoli and beef dish. So amazingly good! If you are ever in Southern California it is definitely worth a trip.
He kinda looks like a giant.

Inside restaurant.

The two birthday boys at the end of the table.

Rachel giving the Fox Barrel Cider a thumbs up.
Thank you, Jacob and Derek for giving us an excuse for another trip to Stone. See you next year?